Sunday papers – 16 June 2019

Theresa May

The Express claims the current Prime Minister will leave the incoming MP a ‘poison chalice’.

BORIS JOHNSON could be derailed by Theresa May in a last ditch attempt to bind the hands of the next Tory leader.
Mrs May is attempting to push through a £27billion cash boost for the education budget in her final weeks as Prime Minister which is prompting a row with senior ministers who believe it is a booby trap for Mr Johnson. The Prime Minister is demanding a three-year funding settlement for schools and teachers to secure her “legacy”, after she pushed for an NHS funding increase last year, according to The Sunday Telegraph. Mrs May is planning to ask for Cabinet approval for the cash boost on Tuesday.
Government sources are insisting she is “still Prime Minister” and “education is very high on her list of priorities”.

Theresa May is attempting to ram through a £27 billion cash boost for the education budget in her final weeks in No 10, prompting a major row with senior ministers who believe it is an attempt to bind Boris Johnson’s hands.
The Prime Minister is demanding a three-year funding settlement for schools and teachers as part of a bid to shore up her “legacy”, following a separate funding increase for the NHS last year. She was preparing to seek Cabinet approval for the plan as soon as Tuesday, with Government sources insisting that she “is still Prime Minister” and “education is very high on her list of priorities”.

Tory leadership

But will Boris win the crown? The Mail reports opposition to a secret plan.

Conservative leadership contenders have criticised a secret plan to crown Boris Johnson as prime minister as the first hustings today got underway.
The plan was proposed by senior ministers amid concerns that a six-week battle of candidates criticising each other would leave whoever wins weakened, providing ammunition for Jeremy Corbyn.
But Sajid Javid and Rory Stewart warned against any ‘coronation’ as they arrived for the Conservative National Convention Hustings in central London, while Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt expressed the same view.

And senior Conservatives are planning to dethrone him, says the Express.

BORIS JOHNSON’s hopes of becoming the next Prime Minister could be dashed by senior Tories who are planning to expose his “lies”.Boris Johnson will be represented by an empty podium during Channel 4’s television debate on Sunday night. The former foreign secretary turned down an invitation to participate in the Channel 4 leadership debate, as he said it would be “cacophonous”. But after rival candidate Jeremy Hunt accused him of “hiding away”, Mr Johnson has since said he will take part in the BBC’s debate next Tuesday.
However, he may face another challenge from Cabinet Ministers who are plotting to derail his leadership bid by telling MPs he can’t be trusted.

Contenders to be Britain’s next prime minister have lined up to dismiss calls for an unchallenged “coronation” of Boris Johnson, as the Tory leadership race turned increasingly bitter ahead of a second round of voting.
It comes as all six of the candidates vying for the keys to No 10 appeared on stage at a hustings session hosted by the National Conservative Convention – an event originally scheduled for a vote of confidence in Theresa May.

And the Guardian claims he’ll push the country into a General Election.

Boris Johnson’s attempts to appease hardline Tory Brexiters will tilt the party into a “disastrous general election” that could be just months away, senior Conservatives are warning.
The runaway favourite to replace Theresa May is being told that the coalition of support set to deliver him Downing Street “won’t survive the autumn”, when he will have to decide whether to accept a deal with the EU or try to force a no-deal Brexit – a move likely to precipitate an election.

Boris Johnson’s progress towards Downing Street appeared inexorable last night as his most senior rivals began circling for jobs in his cabinet and a new poll showed that voters believe he is the only leadership candidate who can win the next election.
Two of Boris Johnson’s rivals — Michael Gove and Sajid Javid — used interviews with The Sunday Times to issue coded job applications.

Jeremy Hunt today leads the charge to try to halt the Boris Johnson leadership bandwagon by unveiling a plan to offer tax breaks for granny flats.
The Foreign Secretary, who came second to Mr Johnson in last week’s ballot of Tory MPs, announces an eye-catching policy of offering financial incentives to families who build accommodation for elderly relatives – to help ease the growing social care and childcare burden on the taxpayer.

Boris Johnson’s runaway Tory leadership bandwagon is gathering more pace with a surge in support in two opinion polls and a new high-profile backer, Esther McVey.
The polls, in The Sunday Times and Sun on Sunday, suggest Mr Johnson is way ahead of his rivals in his ability to win back Tory support from Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and the Lib Dems, and defeat Jeremy Corbyn and Labour.

No Deal

Theresa May has privately vowed to thwart any attempt by Boris Johnson to take the UK out of the EU without a deal, her allies have told The Mail on Sunday.
The disclosure comes as senior party figures told The Mail on Sunday that Mrs May had voted for ultra-Remainer Rory Stewart in Thursday’s ballot of MPs, which led to a landslide victory for Mr Johnson.
Mrs May, who has vowed to stay on as an MP after she leaves Downing Street next month, has suggested she would join forces with pro-Remain Ministers such as Chancellor Philip Hammond and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd to try to stop Mr Johnson from leaving after the October 31 deadline ‘Deal or No Deal’.

And the House of Lords is also threatening to take a hand if no-deal happens, reports the Times.

Up to 30 Conservative peers are threatening to resign the whip if Boris Johnson attempts to force through a no-deal Brexit.
The remain-supporting peers are plotting to quit en masse amid mounting speculation that Johnson, who has vowed that the UK will leave the EU on October 31 with or without a deal, will become prime minister.
One prominent peer said that the discussions had accelerated in recent days after Johnson topped the ballot in the first round of voting in the Tory leadership race, with 114 votes.

But economists think the prospect of no-deal is getting closer, reports Breitbart.

The chance of the UK leaving the EU in a clean break, ditching Theresa May’s EU-approved withdrawal treaty, has increased, according to a poll of economists conducted by Reuters.
“The possibility of a ‘no deal’ Brexit appears to have risen,” Howard Archer at economic forecasting group EY ITEM Club told Reuters after the median forecast for the chance of a no-deal Brexit had increased from 15 per cent in May to 25 per cent in the June poll.

A committed Brexiteer has laid it on the line for the incoming PM, reports Westmonster.

Founder of JD Wetherspoon Tim Martin has warned any new prime minister not to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations and to leave on WTO terms on October 31st.
Martin, an ardent Brexiteer, told Express.co.uk: “The majority of Brexiteers believe that No Deal is a much better way to leave.
“The real danger is that Boris signs an agreement to leave and 90% of the current Withdrawal Agreement gets chucked in there with a couple of minor tweaks to the backstop.”

Labour Party

Jeremy Corbyn is plotting a major tax raid on children helped onto the housing ladder by their parents and those who inherit even the lowest value homes, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
A report commissioned by Labour proposes replacing the current system of inheritance tax with a “lifetime gifts tax” levied on cash or homes given to individuals during the course of their lives.
The document, Land for the Many, claims that the plans would facilitate “the better sharing out” of “unearned windfalls”, by generating an extra £9 billion per year for the Treasury.

JEREMY CORBYN is planning a huge tax raid on children who inherit homes from their parents.
The Labour leader’s proposal replaces inheritance tax with a “lifetime gift tax”, The Sunday Telegraph reported. The tax will apply to property or cash given to individuals during the course of their lives. The report, Land for the Many, claims it would help “the better sharing out” of “unearned windfalls”.
Labour hope the tax would add £9 billion a year to the Treasury.

Labour is considering replacing inheritance tax with a levy on cash and property given to individuals during their lifetimes, a move that could cost families thousands of pounds.
At the moment the system allows a parent to avoid tax on gifts to children as long as they are made more than seven years before the parent’s death.
A parent is also able to pass on a home with a value of up to £475,000 without paying inheritance tax, a sum that rises to £950,000 for married couples and civil partners.

The Guardian reports the shadow cabinet is due to discuss Brexit tomorrow.

Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet is set to debate Brexit on Monday, as the prospect of a Boris Johnson premiership accelerates Labour’s drift towards supporting a second referendum.Corbyn is coming under renewed pressure to set out his backing for a fresh public vote more clearly, as the shockwaves from Labour’s catastrophic performance in the European elections continue to reverberate.
Shadow ministers will be shown the second part of a presentation on polling which began at last week’s meeting, and according to one person present showed Labour was being “squeezed from both sides”.

Labour Party members will have the opportunity to force Jeremy Corbyn to commit fully to a fresh Brexit referendum, after the party bowed to pressure to stage a consultation.
The grassroots survey will be launched next month and conclude by early August, The Independent can reveal – paving the way for the policy shift as a new hardline Conservative prime minister arrives in No 10, supporters believe.

Ireland

The Irish boss has commented on the prospect of removing the backstop from the ill-fated Withdrawal Agreement, says the Independent.

Leo Varadkar has said removing the Irish border backstop from the UK’s EU Withdrawal Agreement would be “effectively the same” as a no-deal Brexit.
The Irish premier added it was “alarming” that Conservative leadership candidates have proposed changes to the policy which safeguards against a hard border.Boris Johnson, the frontrunner in the race to replace Theresa May as prime minister, is among those who have suggested ditching the backstop in favour of unspecified “alternative arrangements”.

Leo Varadkar has said that removing the border backstop would be as bad for Ireland as a no-deal Brexit.
Some contenders to replace Theresa May as prime minister, including frontrunner Boris Johnson, have proposed changes to the policy.
The EU has said the withdrawal agreement – including the backstop – is not up for renegotiation.
The Irish premier told RTE’s Marian Finucane programme that the backstop is “a legally operable guarantee that we will never see a hard border emerge again”.

EU

There is a creeping nervousness taking hold in Brussels. Officials fear that its tactic of delaying further trade conflict with Washington may soon run out of road. Eventually the EU will be forced to pick sides in the China-US trade war, and pressure to open sensitive markets to US commercial interests will become unbearable.
At first glance, the latest trade issue to provoke the ire of the teetotal US president is surprising: Donald Trump is angry about an apparent inequity in the trade of wine between France and the US.
He believes that EU levies of 11-29 cents per bottle are too high, relative to the import taxes the US imposes of 5 cents per 750 millilitres.

Election fraud

The question of fraud in the Peterborough by-election rumbles on. The Times says:

A notorious vote-rigger jailed for forging postal votes played a far greater role in Labour’s narrow by-election victory in Peterborough this month than the party has admitted.
Tariq Mahmood, 51, a numberplate salesman and former taxi company owner who received a 15-month sentence for his part in a “systematic campaign of electoral fraud” in 2008, had denied involvement in the campaign to elect Lisa Forbes 10 days ago.

Voting practices in the Peterborough by-election won by Labour were worthy of corrupt ex-Soviet state Kazakhstan, independent observers warned last night.
They said the sight of people photographing their completed ballot papers was something they had only ever seen in Kazakhstan ‘many years ago’.
The oil-rich state has until recently had only one president since it broke with the Soviet Union in 1991, with claims that even last Sunday’s election was rigged.

And Westmonster reports that the police are looking into the election.

Cambridgeshire Police have confirmed that they are now looking into five allegations relating to the Peterborough by-election.
There has been some speculation relating to the by-election, including the degree of involvement from Labour activist Tariq Mahmood who previously received a prison sentence for postal vote interference.
Labour deny he was involved in the campaign, though he was pictured with Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and their by-election candidate Lisa Forbes who beat the Brexit Party’s Mike Greene by just 683 votes.

Gulf attacks

Pictures of an oil tanker ablaze have prompted troops to be sent to the area, says the Mail.

The Royal Navy is sending 30 Marines to the Gulf for a training exercise amid Iranian attacks on two oil tankers.
Elite soldiers from 42 Commando will leave their Plymouth barracks to form Special Purpose Task Group 19, deploying on Royal Navy ships from Britain’s new Bahraini base.
Earlier reports that the Marines are being deployed to protect British ships in light of the tensions were tonight denied by the Ministry of Defence.

THE ROYAL Navy is set to send Marines to the Persian Gulf amid rising tensions with Iran after an attack on two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
Britain has backed the US in saying that Iran was behind the attacks, adding it was “almost certain” the country was responsible.
Elite soldiers from 42 Commando based near Plymouth are set to be deployed in a training exercise drawn up before the attacks on one Norwegian and one Japanese tanker.

BRITISH and US claims that Iran is behind two oil tanker explosions are “the most dangerous threat of war” yet, peace campaigners warned today.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the first to accuse Iran of having attacked Norway’s Front Altair and Japan’s Kokuka Courageous as the two tankers sailed through the Gulf of Oman yesterday.
But journalist and peace campaigner John Pilger told the Morning Star there was “not a shred of evidence” to suggest Iran was responsible and nobody should trust the Trump administration.

Listeria

Hospitals have been put on high alert by public health officials amid a listeria outbreak that has killed five patients — one of the UK’s worst outbreaks. The bug has an incubation period of up to 70 days, and NHS chiefs are braced for more fatalities.
Five years ago the government was warned about failings in hospital food safety. A 64-page report for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) uncovered 32 failings in hospital food safety in 2014.

The health secretary has ordered a “root and branch” review of NHS food after two more patient deaths were linked to an outbreak of listeria.Matt Hancock said he was “incredibly concerned” after it emerged the patients were suspected of dying after eating pre-packaged hospital sandwiches and salads from the same supplier, The Good Food Chain – bringing the number of fatalities to five.
The affected products have since been withdrawn from hospitals and Public Health England (PHE) said evidence suggested all the deaths occurred before the items were removed from circulation on 25 May.

Even though he’s in the running for the Tory leadership, the health secretary has addressed the problem, reports ITV News.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has ordered a “root and branch” review of NHS food after two more patient deaths were linked to a listeria outbreak.
The former Conservative leadership hopeful said he was “incredibly concerned” after it emerged patients were suspected of dying after eating pre-packaged sandwiches and salads linked to The Good Food Chain, which supplies food to NHS hospitals.

AN NHS food probe was ordered after the deaths of two more patients were linked with pre-packed sarnies.
The “root and branch” review follows a listeria outbreak now suspected of claiming five lives.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock who ordered the probe said: “I’ve been incredibly concerned.”

About The Author

Debbie has been a journalist for longer than she cares to admit! She has been freelance for the last 15 years and is deputy editor on INDEPENDENCE Daily, specialising in covering the morning press each day.

8 Comments

A huge protest is going on in Hong Kong at the moment. There are parallels with our situation. Like us, Hong Kongers are trying to retain their freedoms.

At the moment Hong Kong, although now part of Communist China, is apparently still largely autonomous, evidenced by the China Uncensored team being able to go to there and report live from the protest.

From what I’ve read, it appears that Hong Kong has a largely British legal system while Communist China has more of a Corpus Juris type system. Arrest without charge. Guilty until you’ve proven yourself innocent.

mary
on June 16, 2019 at 10:35 pm

Michael Keal re Hong Kong protests: why is it that the Hong Kong people grasp the enormity of the loss of their civil liberties, but so many British people don’t? We’ve been trying for years to get people fired up about the EU Arrest Warrant etc but there hasn’t been the mass outrage that one might hope and expect.

Michael Keal
on June 17, 2019 at 7:03 pm

Mary that exact same thought was going through my mind in putting my comment together. I’m not sure if I’m right, but I do have an idea. The Hong Kongers are colonials. Having spent my high school years in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) I suppose I’m something of a colonial myself. People like us know what civilisation is for. We know what the alternative looks like. We know that things can and almost certainly will get very, very much worse if they’re allowed to. We not only value and maintain what we have but seek to improve it because if you’re not going up you’re going down.

As I see it civilisation is an unnatural state which only exists under the rule of law. Not any old law, but one like the kind of legal system we have here in the UK which is based on precedent. (AKA common law which has its roots in feudal law and Roman law.)

It’s what stops our politicians turning the UK into a corrupt third-world country where the politicians live the life of Riley while everyone else slides deeper and deeper into poverty and misery.

And what we’ve been witnessing of late, with the kitchen light suddenly turned on in the night and all the cockroaches scurrying about, exposed and in full view, seen as they really are, leaves us in no doubt that many of them (thankfully not all) would turn the UK into a third-world backwater while lining their pockets along the way in a heart-beat.

But yes. Most people, especially the Remainers, don’t see the danger, just don’t get it.

A new version of the song “hey we’re going to Barbados” springs to mind.

“hey we’re going to Venezuela!”

(Sung with the same gusto and enthusiasm of course.)

Edward Leane
on June 16, 2019 at 10:39 am

Brexit does not depend on the next Prime Minister. The Brexit baton was passed to the people in the referendum. It is now up to the people to see it through. However instead the people have allowed themselves to be divided and confused by some very clever people who have no intention of allowing Britain to leave the EU …….. unless the people stand up and continue to make it clear they will not take NO for an answer.

So, there could be mass resignations from the House of Lords in the case of no-deal. Well, I guess that’s one way to ‘drain the swamp’.

John Francis
on June 16, 2019 at 12:45 pm

Mass withdrawal from the HoL’s (especially of Remoaners) would indeed be a good thing.
However a word of caution, those threatening this withdrawal are in the main, those whose snouts are mostly deeply on the trough.
Just to further confuse the farmyard analogy, Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas!

LisaB
on June 16, 2019 at 2:00 pm

Way to go! The sooner the better and then we can start on the HOC which is hugely over populated with self-serving unqualified liars.

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